Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Café Kim opened for the first time in months Sunday. The regulars arrived, spouses, partners and often children in tow. Wags revels in children, soaking up the attention, not to forget about lapping up the droppings and cleaning small fingers and faces. He’s incorrigible.

After all had left and Andre was cleaning up, I reflected how this little soiree has changed. Fewer are the discussions of the relative merit of this or that band, fewer huzzahs for someone who recently obtained their first professional job or where to get a good deal on shoes. Replacing those were discussing about trying to put two child seats in a C1 or should a bullet be bit and get an MPV, aka a mom-mobile. Is this a good time to buy an apartment/house and will anyone come and visit if it is in the suburbs? And overwhelmingly, what is the future of the Euro and how will that play out in our lives? Needless to say, politicians are held in low regard as are bankers. People are struggling for answers to questions that seem to be a house of mirrors.

Me? I share the same uncertainty regarding Kim & Co. and my investments. Equities don’t look promising, bonds the same, with commodities I’m out of my depth, leaving the one thing that I have some comfort in, currencies. But my past triage between the USD, the Euro, Pound and Yen is inadequate and gold is overpriced, so now I’m dabbling in Swiss francs, Canadian dollars, the Rand, the Real, Rupees, Chilean Peso, Australian dollar and the Yuan.

Then there is Kim and Company. The Great Recession had me rethink my business plan and I’ve focused on the company being tightly integrated, i.e. more important, to a smaller number of clients. In an economic downturn our clients may reduce what they spend with us, but they won’t/can’t do away with us as a vendor. Beyond that I’m trying to build partnerships and relationships in the emerging market countries. Later this month I have a trip planned to Istanbul and Doha.

An existential worry for me is the break up of the Euro zone as it would add much friction to my business model, but a long conversation with my brother-in-law showed me how I could limit my losses and still come out OK. Effectively it is an exit strategy and that’s alright. I have other business ideas that can be pursued.

The weather is fallish, but dry. We’re heading for Hossegor or Capbreton for the weekend, the surf will be up, very up and the winds favorable.

5 Comments:

VJ said...

Many face the same conundrum Kim. It's largely the same in the States for investments. Some are buying up houses once again, which in many places is madness. We're just trying to actually spend down some savings & put it into useful repairs. Even that's difficult trying to deal with contractors & the like. Cheers & Good Luck, 'VJ'